Game Localization Services

Localization is translation plus everything that makes translation work in a running game. Strings have to fit UI that was designed in English, dates and numbers have to follow local convention, plurals and gender have to resolve correctly in languages with more cases than English, and content has to clear whatever the target market treats as unacceptable. A translated string that overflows its button is a bug, not a translation.

The standard first tier is French, Italian, German, Spanish, usually written FIGS, often extended with Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Japanese, Korean and Chinese cost more and take longer, because they need different fonts, different line-breaking rules, and often a different text rendering path.

Prepare the build before you send anything out

Most localization problems are engineering problems that surface as language problems. Fix these before the first word is translated and you avoid the majority of the pain:

• No concatenated strings. "You found " + item + "!" is unlocalizable in half the target languages
• Every string externalized with a stable key, plus a context note and a screenshot reference for the translator
• UI that can grow. German and Russian commonly run 30 percent longer than English; plan for expansion rather than truncation
• Font coverage and line-breaking checked for CJK before you commit to those markets
• A pseudo-localization pass run first, which catches hardcoded strings and layout failures without a translator involved
• A glossary and style guide for names, terms and tone, locked before translation, since retrofitting terminology is expensive

How localization is priced

Translation is normally billed per source word. Typical market rates are $0.08 to $0.20 per source word, with the top of the range for Japanese, Korean and low-volume language pairs, and the bottom for high-volume European languages with translation memory in place. Localization QA is billed hourly, and multilingual voice recording is priced per line or per recorded hour, plus studio and direction costs.

Two things move the effective cost more than the headline rate. Translation memory reduces repeat cost across updates, so ask who owns the memory: if the vendor keeps it, switching vendors later means paying for the same strings again. And minimum charges matter for small updates, since a 200-word patch often bills as a minimum job rather than by the word.

LQA is not optional

Localization QA means a native speaker plays the game in the target language and checks strings in context. It catches text that overflows or truncates, lines that are grammatically fine but wrong for the situation, gendered forms that resolve incorrectly, and terminology that drifted between translators. Translation without LQA reliably ships visible errors, and store reviews in that language will say so.

Budget LQA as a separate line, staffed by different people from the translators. A translator reviewing their own work in context finds fewer problems than a fresh player does.

For a full cost breakdown by language and word volume, read the game localization cost guide. If you also need in-language voice recording, coordinate it with your audio vendor so naming conventions match across languages.